James McCarroll
by George J. Dance James McCarroll (August 3, 1814 - April 10, 1892) was a Canadian poet, fiction writer, journalist, musician, and inventor.Michael Peterman, James McCarroll, Canadian Encyclopedia, December 15, 2013, Historica Canada. Web, Nov. 18, 2018. Life McCarroll was born at Lanesboro, co. Longford, Ireland. He grew up in co. Leitrim, where his father, Robert McCarroll, was bandmaster of the Leitrim militia. The family belonged to the protestant Church of Ireland. The McCarrolls immigrated in 1831 to Upper Canada (Ontario), where Robert had been given a land grant in return for his militia service. Selling the land, they settled in Peterborough, where father and son opened a music academy. After his parents moved on, James remained in Peterborough, giving music lessons, serving as choirmaster of the Anglican church, and working as a shoemaker.Michael Peterman, "Songs and soft whispers: The life of an early Irish settler - musician, poet, cobbler, journalist and teacher James McCarroll, Peterborough Examiner, March 4, 2015. Web, Nov. 18, 2018. In 1837 he married Anne Davis, the daughter of the family with whom he boarded; the couple would have 3 children. He started a Reform newspaper, The Peterboro Chronicle (1843-1846), but was bankrupted by a fire that destroyed his printing office. In 1849 he was appointed a Customs officer at the port of Cobourg by Francis Hincks, beginning a 15-year career with Customs that included appointments at Port Stamford (Niagara Falls), Port Credit, and Toronto. Wherever McCarroll lived he wrote for local newspapers and built up a network of journalist friends, many of them of Irish birth. In Toronto he became very popular as a many-faceted writer. His stories and serialized novels appeared in periodicals like the Anglo-American Magazine. Many of his poems were written for the Toronto Leader (1853-1865), and his comic letters appeared in several satiric papers, notably The Grumbler and his own short-lived weekly, The Latch-Key (1864). In 1863 McCarroll lost his Customs position. Suddenly without an income, he saw himself as a victim of anti-Irish politics. He spent his final years in Toronto writing for various newspapers (notably the Irish Canadian and Pick) and speaking out as an Irishman against Confederation. An acclaimed flautist, he also took his 1-man musical and comedic show to cities and towns across Canada West. In February 1866, McCarroll left Toronto for Buffalo, New York, where he aligned himself with Fenian insurgents and wrote his 2nd book, Ridgeway: An historical romance of the Fenian invasion of Canada (1868). Branded a traitor by some Canadians, he never returned. He lived his final 25 years in New York City, where he continued his literary, musical and journalistic endeavors. He published 2 more books, a play entitled Nearly a Tragedy: A comedy (1874), and a collection of his poetry, Madeline, and other poems (1889). McCarroll was also an inventor, who filed American patents for improving elevators and introduced a fire-proof gauze for elevators and walls. He died in New York City in 1892, aged 77. Writing In the mid-19th century, McCarroll was numbered among Canada's most published and praised authors. His poems and comic letters in the Irish brogue were particularly popular in the decade before Confederation. His political observations and his sense of humour were welcomed by many readers. Written from 1861 to 1865, his comic letters, from the hand of "Terry Finnegan," used the Irish vernacular (or stage-Irish) to cajole and advise the Hon. Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Canada's leading Irish politician of the time, on how best to serve the ongoing interests of the Irish in Canada. The letters were popular with both Proestants and Catholics. The 1st series of the Letters of Terry Finnegan (1864) was published as a book in Toronto in 1864. McCarroll wrote in all some 60 Terry Finnegan letters, though a number of them have been lost. Critical reputation McCarroll has been largely forgotten since the 1870s. Recognition William Wilfred Campbell included McCarroll's poems "Dawn" and "The Grey Linnet" in the Oxford Book of Canadian Verse, 1913.Contents, Oxford Book of Canadian Verse, 1913. Web, Nov. 18, 2018. Publications Poetry *''Madeline, and other poems''. Chicago, New York, & San Francisco: Belford, Clarke / London: J.H. Deane, 1889. Novels *''Ridgeway: An historical romance of the Fenian invasion of Canada''. Buffalo: McCarroll, 1868. Short fiction *''Letters of Terry Finnegan: Author of several imaginary works''. Toronto: 1863. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:James McCarroll, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Nov. 17, 2018. See also *List of Irish poets *List of Canadian poets References External links ;Poems *McCarroll in the Oxford Book of Canadian Verse: "Dawn," "The Grey Linnet" ;About *James McCarroll in the Canadian Encyclopedia *"The Irish Odyssey of James McCarroll" *"Songs and soft whispers: The life of an early Irish settler - musician, poet, cobbler, journalist and teacher James McCarroll," Peterborough Examiner *''Delicious Mirth: The life and times of James McCarroll'' reviewed, 2019 Category:19th-century poets Category:Canadian poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:People from County Longford Category:1814 births Category:1892 deaths